Hiro
Hiro *'Number': 51 *'Class': JNR D51 *'Designer': Hideo Shima *'Builder': Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company *'Configuration': 2-8-2 * Built: Between 1936 and 1941 * Arrived On Sodor: 1941 Hiro is a wise Japanese engine, who was famously known as the "Master of the Railway". Bio Hiro once lived on a railway in Japan. He was the strongest engine on his railway, and was famously known as the "Master of the Railway". He was eventually brought to Sodor where he worked for many years. However, he began to show his age, and the workmen did not have the necessary parts to repair him. To escape being scrapped, he was put on a siding, where he had to wait for the parts to come from his homeland. However, the parts never came and Hiro was all but forgotten. Thomas eventually found him and, fearing Hiro would be scrapped if he was not Really Useful, promised to bring him back to his former glory while keeping him a secret from Sir Topham Hatt. Thomas also had the rest of the Steam Team help in the restoration, and Hiro quickly gained their friendship. After breaking down again while trying to avoid Spencer, Hiro was hidden away in another siding, where the engines visited him and kept him company. When Sir Topham Hatt found out about the situation, Hiro was brought to the Sodor Steamworks, where Victor oversaw his restoration. Once Hiro was restored, he helped Spencer after his accident, and worked with him and Thomas to finish the Duke and Duchess's summer house. Despite everything, Hiro had grown homesick, so Sir Topham Hatt arranged for him to be sent back to his homeland. Hiro eventually came back to Sodor to help the engines with the summer holiday traffic. Upon his arrival, Hiro went to the Steamworks to be examined and then went to Knapford station for his welcome party, which was almost delayed as Thomas was trying to find a welcome present for Hiro instead of telling the other engines about the party. But, Hiro told Thomas that having his friends at the party was the best welcome present. During his visit, Hiro told Thomas to take the load of bees through the woods, which Thomas ignored. However, Thomas took Hiro's advice after taking Hiro's flower truck to get the bees back to their hives. Later on, Hiro saw the Fat Controller, and assumed he was too busy to give orders to his engines. So, he tried to help the Fat Controller by giving out the orders - but he only succeeded in becoming "Master of the Muddle". However, he made up for his mistakes by telling the engines to go to Knapford and await orders from the Fat Controller. Hiro is still on loan to the Fat Controller. He saw Jobi Wood being delivered to the Docks and told Thomas about where it came from. He later pushed Henry to the Steamworks to have his side-rods repaired. And when Hiro became homesick, Thomas took him to Misty Island, which reminded Hiro of his home. Later on Hiro, along with Henry, took on some bad coal. While Henry did not want to carry on, Hiro was determined to get the job done. He did so, but during his next job of transporting girders with Henry, Hiro broke down and Henry had to come to the rescue. Once, Diesel tried to teach him how to handle trucks, suggesting that the only way of tackling them was with force. However, Hiro insisted that being gentle was the best policy. However, when Diesel stuck to his own belief, he ended up causing Hiro's milk churns to spill over the Fat Controller — twice! After this, Diesel was found out, and Hiro was tasked with teaching Diesel the correct way to treat trucks! In the eighteenth season, he stopped Caitlin while he was on the mainland after she accidentally took Annie and Clarabel, and brought them back to Thomas on Sodor. Later, he helped clear the tracks so Connor could deliver the last of his passengers on Christmas Eve, and nearly mistook Harold for Santa Claus. After six years of virtually no accidents at all, Hiro derailed at a bend when he hit some pipes which came loose from Thomas' Train, with his left side severely damaged, and sent to the Steamworks to be repaired again. Thomas, fearing Hiro would be shunted and forgotten like last time due to the parts needed to fix him would take so long to arrive from Japan, ventured alone into Hiro's old hideout, hoping to find some parts that can speed up Hiro's repair. Unfortunately, Thomas came off the rails at some rusty bit of tracks that broke away and got stuck in the mud. Thomas whistled and peeped all day, but no one could here him since he was so deep in the woods. When Harold flew by, Thomas shot steam into the sky, attracting the helicopter's attention, and was indeed saved by Percy, Rocky and Sir Topham Hatt. At the steamworks, Hiro revealed to Thomas that The Fat Controller ordered plenty of spare parts when he was overhauled, and he was ready to leave like his friend was. Persona Hiro is an old steam engine who has been on Sodor for a very long time and was originally known as the "Master of the Railway." He is grand, masterful, mature, wise, very dignified, enormously kind, and is able to find good in any engine he meets. He has an appreciation for serenity and order and often thinks fondly of his homeland, far away, where he was once one of the strongest engines. Hiro fell victim to neglect when waiting upon parts to arrive for him from his island, when he began to break down and became lost. He was eventually rediscovered by Thomas, who, despite some problems in worrying about sharing the discovery of Hiro with the Fat Controller, helped Hiro be fully restored to his former glory. Hiro continues to be gentle, wise, and graceful, as well as a useful engine on the railway and good friend to the other engines, especially Thomas. He does not appear to hold a grudge; in his first appearance, he helped Spencer after an accident, despite Spencer previously trying to send Hiro to the smelter's yard. Basis Hiro is a Japanese National Railways (JNR) Class D51 built by Kawasaki. However, Hiro runs on standard gauge track, while the real D51 engines were built for 3'6" gauge (Cape gauge). Livery Hiro is painted black with gold boiler bands and fittings and red wheels. His name is written in black on gold nameplates on his smoke deflectors. He has the number "51" painted on the sides of his tender in white. His "patchwork" colour scheme consists of some blue, green, purple, and rust coloured parts. Appearances Voice Actors * Togo Igawa (UK/US) * Tesshō Genda (Japan) * Kai-Hendrik Möller (Germany) * Helge Winther Larsen (Norway; Hero of the Rails - seventeenth season, excluding King of the Railway) * Stig Krogstad (Norway; King of the Railway onwards) * Janusz Wituch (Poland) * César Árias (Mexico) * Carlos Moreno (Spain) * Bernard Demory (France and French speaking Canada) * Leo Richardson (The Netherlands) Trivia * Hiro says that he is the oldest engine on the Island, but the D51 class was not built until 1936, making him much younger than most of the other steam engines on the island. * According to Christopher Skala, Hiro was originally going to be painted blue. This carried on to his patchwork model. * Like Hank, Sam and Flora, Hiro has only been partially modified to work on Sodor. He has been scaled up to standard gauge, and has been given buffers on his front and his tender. But oddly enough, he has a chain coupling on his tender, and a knuckle coupling on his front. This would make pushing rolling stock or being pulled away by another engine physically impossible, unless a special adapter used to connect knuckle couplers and chain couplings was fitted onto his knuckle coupling. * In the Norwegian narration, Hiro is known as "The King of the Railway". * Though Hiro's number is a reference to his class, there really is a D51 with the number 51. However, unlike Hiro, the real engine is an earlier build of the D51 class, with its dome flush with its funnel. It is preserved at Torokko Saga Station in Kyoto, Japan. * According to the Japanese narration, Hiro is owned by Sir Takaboushi Hideki, who is also good friends with Sir Topham Hatt. * According to SiF's Interview with John Lee, Hiro was going to have a different name. * Hiro was the last new character to be produced by Take Along before Fisher Price bought Learning Curve and started producing Take-n-Play models. * Hiro is possibly named after the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Merchandise * Wooden Railway (normal, "patchwork", "lost and found", ''metallic, and battery powered'') * Take Along (normal and "lost and found"; discontinued) * Take-n-Play (normal, "patchwork" and talking) * Motor Road and Rail (normal and patchwork; Asia only) * TrackMaster (normal, talking "lost and found", and R/C) * My Thomas Story Library (discontinued) * Tomica * Wind-up (normal, metallic, clear and "patchwork"; Japan only) * Pocket Fantasy (discontinued) * Boss (with ocher tanker and pullback; discontinued) * Capsule Collection * Diablock * Collectible Railway * Minis (classics, heros and electrified) Gallery File:HeroOfTheRails127.png|Hiro as he arrives on Sodor for the first time File:HeroOfTheRails122.png|Hiro in Japan File:HeroOfTheRails208.png File:HeroOfTheRails293.png|"Patchwork" Hiro HeroOfTheRails506.png File:HeroOfTheRails531.png File:HeroOfTheRails535.png File:TheBiggestPresentofAll22.png|Thomas and Hiro File:TheBiggestPresentofAll24.png|Hiro's welcome party at Knapford File:TheBiggestPresentofAll5.png|Hiro in the thirteenth season File:TheBiggestPresentofAll6.png|Hiro, the Fat Controller, Percy, and Thomas File:TheBiggestPresentofAll16.png File:BuzzyBees8.png File:BuzzyBees66.png File:Henry'sHealthandSafety7.png File:HappyHiro30.png|Hiro on Misty Island File:HappyHiro5.png|Hiro with Thomas and Percy File:HappyHiro14.png File:HappyHiro23.png File:HappyHiro36.png File:HappyHiro25.png File:EmilyandDash66.png File:RacetotheRescue1.png|Hiro and Scruff File:KingoftheRailway31.png|Hiro and Rosie File:KingoftheRailway116.png|Hiro in King of the Railway File:KingoftheRailway513.png File:Henry'sHero4.png|Hiro's tender File:Henry'sHero40.png|Hiro in the seventeenth season File:Henry'sHero17.png File:Henry'sHero56.png File:Henry'sHero63.png File:Percy'sLuckyDay24.png File:NoMoreMrNiceEngine30.png File:NoMoreMrNiceEngine2.png File:NoMoreMrNiceEngine15.png File:NoMoreMrNiceEngine50.png|Hiro and Diesel File:NoMoreMrNiceEngine64.png File:NotSoSlowCoaches119.png|Hiro in the eighteenth season File:SignalsCrossed43.png|Hiro and Toby File:LastTrainforChristmas81.png|Hiro with his snowplough File:WhosThatEngineHiro6.PNG File:WhosThatEngineHiro1.PNG|Hiro's wheels File:WhosThatEngineHiro3.PNG|Hiro's lamp File:WhosThatEngineHiro4.PNG|Hiro's whistle File:WhosThatEngineHiro5.PNG|Hiro's number 51 File:HiroandThomaspromo.png|Promotional picture of Hiro and Thomas File:HiroHead-onPromo.png|Head-on CGI promo of Hiro File:Hiro.PNG|Hiro at the station File:HiroandThomasJapanesePromo.bmp File:HerooftheRailspromo4.PNG File:PercyandHiroPromo.jpg|A promotional picture of Percy and Hiro File:HerooftheRailsWii9.jpg|Scrap Hiro in the Hero of the Rails Wii game File:ThomasisLeavingSodor!3.png|Thomas imagines being as big as Hiro in Thomas is Leaving Sodor! File:StuckintheMud8.png File:HiroandThomasinamagazine.jpg|Thomas and Hiro as they appear in a magazine activity File:HiroVictorKevin.png|Hiro, Kevin and Victor File:OigawaRailway'sHiro.jpg|Oigawa Railway's Hiro replica File:OigawaRailwayThomasHiroandtheFatController.jpg|Replica Hiro with Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt File:HiroJapaneseVendingMachine.png|A Hiro themed vending machine in Japan File:Hiro'sBasis.JPG|Hiro's basis Merchandise Gallery File:WoodenRailwayHiro.jpg|Wooden Railway File:WoodenRailwayHiro2013.jpg|2013 Wooden Railway File:WoodenRailwayPatchworkHiro.jpg|Wooden Railway "patchwork" model File:woodenlostandfoundHiro.gif|Wooden Railway "lost and found" model File:WoodenRailwaybatterypoweredHiro.jpg|Battery powered Wooden Railway File:WoodenRailwaymetallicHiro.png|Metallic Wheels Wooden Railway File:WoodenRailwayEarlyEngineersHiro.jpg|Early Engineers File:Take-AlongHiro.jpg|Take-Along File:Take-n-PlayHiro.jpg|Prototype Take-n-Play File:Take-n-PlayHiro.png|Take-n-Play File:Take-n-Play2013Hiro.PNG|2013 Take-n-Play File:Take-n-PlayHiro2014.jpg|2014 Take-n-Play File:Take-n-PlayPatchworkHiro.PNG|Prototype Take-n-Play "patchwork" Note : The tender is backwards File:Take-n-PlayPatchworkHiro.jpg|Take-n-Play "patchwork" File:Take-n-PlaytalkingHiro.jpg|Talking Take-n-Play File:Wind-upHiro.jpg|Wind-up File:Wind-upPatchworkHiro.jpg|Wind-up "patchwork" model File:Wind-upClearMetallicHiro.jpg|Wind-up Clear Metallic File:TrackMasterHiro.jpg|TrackMaster File:TrackMasterHiroGoodAsNew.jpg File:2014TrackMasterHiro.JPG|2014 TrackMaster File:TrackMasterRCHiro.jpg|RC Hiro File:TOMYHiro.jpg|Plarail File:PlarailTalkingHiro.jpg|Plarail talking Hiro File:PlarailPatchworkHiro.JPG|Plarail Patchwork File:TrackMasterRCHiroinPackaging.jpg|TrackMaster R/C model File:TrackMasterSnowClearingHiro.jpg|TrackMaster Snow Clearing Hiro File:TomicaHiro.jpg|Tomica File:CollectibleRailwayHiro.jpg|Collectible Railway File:CollectibleRailwayHiroprototype.jpg|Prototype Collectible Railway File:MotorizedRailwayHiro.jpg|Motorized Railway Hiro File:MinisClassicHiro.jpg|Minis (Classic) File:MinisHeroesHiro.jpg|Minis (Heroes) File:MinisElectifiedHiro.png|Minis (Electrified) File:CapsuleCollectionHiro.jpg|Capsule Collection File:DiablockHiro.png|Diablock File:HiroPlushKeychain.jpg|Plush Keychain File:HiroPlushCoilCordKeychain.jpg|Plush on coil cord File:HiroStoryLibrary.jpg|Story Library book File:Hiro2011StoryLibrarybook.jpg|2011 Story Library book File:ThomasHelpsOut.jpg|2015 Story Library book File:TOMYHiroandAquariumCars.jpg|TOMY Hiro and Aquarium Cars See Also *Category:Images of Hiro Category:Steam locomotives Category:Tender engines Category:Other railways Category:Television Series-only characters 2-8-2 Category:Visiting Engines